The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant, botanically known as Dahlia hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘HDSC18’.
The new Dahlia plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lisse, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact container Dahlia plants with dark-colored leaves, large inflorescences and good postproduction longevity.
The new Dahlia plant originated from a cross-pollination conducted by the Inventor in Lisse, The Netherlands in 2008 of Dahlia hybrida ‘HDPU165’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 23,299, as the female, or seed, parent with Dahlia hybrida ‘VD5-279’, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Dahlia plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Lisse, The Netherlands during the summer of 2009.
Asexual reproduction of the new Dahlia plant by cuttings since the spring of 2010 in a controlled greenhouse environment in Lisse, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Dahlia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.